The Rays Should Be Thanking the Guardians and White Sox for Their ALDS Mess

The real winners in Major League Baseball on Thursday night were the Tampa Bay Rays.

Because if they can’t win the ALCS once it starts Monday night at Tropicana Field, no matter their opponent, their franchise dream of winning the World Series won’t ever happen. It’s all set up for them. At least the getting-there part.

As everyone knows, the American League stinks except for the Rays. They’re really good, in the same figurative league as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers. The best thing is, they’re not in the same literal league, and won’t have to face either of the other good teams remaining, until the Series.

Assuming the Rays get there. And they darn sure better, after watching the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox trade blind haymakers, once in a while landing a glancing blow, in the ALDS. The Guardians, after dropping the first two of the best-of-five series at home, took the next two at Chicago, to set up a deciding Game 5 back at Progressive Field on Saturday night.

The White Sox have been the best story in MLB from a team standpoint, going from three straight seasons of losing 100-plus games, including the all-time worst season of 2024, to this. They’re on the verge of making the ALCS with a bunch of unknowns, overlooked post-hype prospects, re-tread pitchers and an injured wizard named Mike Vasil. They’ve been on the verge of this for several days, trying to close out a postseason series at home for the first time since 1906. Yes, Oh-Six. It seems like a fake stat, but it’s still real — and spectacularly hard to believe.

But are the Sox really any good? No offense to the boys in silver and black, but not really. And their flaws have been on display against the Guardians. Not enough pitching. Too many strikeouts at the plate at a time in history when MLB teams don’t generally care if they strike out a lot. Their best offensive weapon might be Sam Antonacci getting hit in the butt with the bases loaded. The Sox make desperate-looking lineup decisions (and in-game decisions) that could do more harm than good overall. Will Venable seems to be a fabulous manager of people, and maybe we credit (or discredit) the front office for making him go overboard with tactics like over-using ace reliever Grant Taylor earlier in the ALDS against the Guards. Taylor looked absolutely spent in Cleveland’s big inning Thursday night.

Cleveland disguises itself as good enough just about every season, making the playoffs eight times in the past 11 years, but let’s be clear: They win because the rest of the AL Central can’t raise itself above mediocrity.

And sometimes their manager does odd things. Stephen Vogt left a crumb on the floor, a crack in the door, and maybe a monkey in the wrench by using right-hander Gavin Williams to close out a five-run lead Thursday night. He didn’t need to do that, considering five runs is a lot to overcome in one inning, and Williams had been set to be the starting pitcher in Game 5. The White Sox looked beaten until they mounted half a rally in the ninth.

Now, Williams has been diminished for the deciding game. They’ll talk about how, “Oh, it’s just like a side session between starts.” Yeah, and I’ve got Cleveland Browns Super Bowl highlights to watch.

Will this mistake cost the Guardians? Maybe not this week, but it’s another indication they’re just pretenders again.

These are the Rays’ presumptive opponents in the ALCS? What if we just cut straight to the World Series instead? Can Rob Manfred leak that collective bargaining proposal to the media next?